. >>> but first, president obama and republican presidential candidate mitt romney both campaign in the battleground state of virginia today after nearly crossing paths in another key swing state, ohio. nbc's tracie potts is joining from us washington with those details. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. virginia, four years ago, the president won that state after 44 years of voters there selecting republicans, but then ey flipped and switched their democratic governor for a republican, so, some back and forth in virginia, and now the president hopes to win that state back. president obama and mitt romney campaign in virginia today, where median income is 23% higher than the national average, and unemployment's way lower, under 6%. like ohio wednesday, the president's expected to hammer romney for his comments on the 47% of voters who don't pay taxes. >> i don't know how many of you will be with me this time around, but -- but it doesn't matter, because i'm running to be your president, to represent everybody. >> we're going to help those that need our help. we're a compass